Tag Archives: SMACKOUT PACK

An after-action report from Washington wolf managers says that taking out two wolves this summer along with efforts to prevent their pack from tangling with grazing cattle appears to have worked.

WDFW says that if the Smackout Pack doesn’t cause any more depredations through Sept. 30, their evaluation period will end and the lethal removal protocol will, in essence, reset to two in a rolling 10-month period. Four would be the new trigger.

But if an attack does occur before the end of the month, they may go back in for another round.

WDFW’S 94-PAGE FINAL REPORT ON A STRING OF CALF ATTACKS OVER 10 MONTHS BY THE SMACKOUT PACK OF NORTHEAST WASHINGTON INCLUDES DEPREDATION INVESTIGATION RESULTS. (WDFW)

The agency’s 94-page final report was issued yesterday — 53 days since the second removal and 61 since the last depredation by the Stevens-Pend Oreille County pack — and will add another data point to the ongoing debate over whether killing wolves helps to quell attacks on cattle and other stock.

“The collaboration between WDFW personnel and the livestock producers, the approach highlighted in the protocol of both proactive and responsive nonlethal deterrents, and the incremental removal, appeared to have the intended effect of changing the Smackout Pack behavior to reduce the probability of reoccurring depredations while continuing to promote recovery,” it states near the end.

At the start of this year’s grazing season, it was believed there were 13 to 15 members in the Smackout Pack, three of which had telemetry collars.

The pack has been the subject of heavy deterrence efforts over the years, but it was blamed for killing three calves and injuring two others belonging to three different producers in attacks in late September 2016 and July 2017.

Four of the five depredations were confirmed and one was probable.

WDFW’s report provides the usual graphic details from those investigations, as well as more about the two wolves that were removed after Director Jim Unsworth’s July 20 authorization.

The first was a 30-pound “young of the year” female that was captured and euthanized two days after a calf was injured on Forest Service land.

The second was a 70-pound adult female removed on July 30.

“Both removals occurred within the 14-day window from the time of depredation, thereby having the most impact on changing the behavior of the pack,” the report states, referring to a study coauthored by researchers in the Northern Rockies. “The removals occurred within a short distance (one mile) from the livestock in an effort to provide the greatest influence on pack behavior related to livestock interactions.”

However, subsequent to putting the pup down, WDFW made a decision to only kill adult wolves (the collared breeding female is off limits).

A third wolf was legally killed in late June by a range rider when it was caught in the act of “chasing and posing an imminent threat” to cattle in a fenced pasture, the first time that provision has been employed in the state.

The report notes nonlethal deterrence work was being performed in the neighborhood of the pack not only this year but in recent grazing seasons as well.

“For approximately four years prior to confirmed depredations in the Smackout wolf pack territory, WDFW had been working with producers on both public and private lands to deter potential wolf depredations. These efforts included increased human presence near livestock on large grazing allotments. Other deterrents measures utilized over the past several years included sharing Wolf GPS collar data including information on den and rendezvous locations with applicable producers, sanitation (removal of livestock carcasses), fladry, fox lights, WDFW field personnel working with USFS range personnel, and monitoring by WDFW personnel,” the report states.

In other Washington wolf news:

WDFW reports that all’s quiet on the Sherman Pack front following a series of depredations and one removal.

There may — or may not — be a new pack in Okanogan County. It’s unclear if two pups and an adult spotted on a trail camera southeast of Oroville are the nearby Beaver Creek Pack or an as-yet-to-be-determined group of wolves.

An ethics complaint has been filed by a public employees group against a state representative alleging the lawmaker used his position to withhold funding for a university over a researcher’s wolf work.

And an opinion piece out this week in High Country News and headlined “Rural communities can coexist with wolves. Here’s how” focuses on the collaborative approach to dealing with the recovery of wolves in Washington.

A weekly update from Washington wolf managers yesterday afternoon indicates that, for the moment, things have quieted down in the northeastern corner of the state.

WDFW reports it is now in an evaluation period with the Smackout Pack to see if lethally removing two members following a series of calf depredations that stretch back to late last September can head off more livestock attacks.

A MEMBER OF THE SMACKOUT WOLF PACK OF STEVENS AND PEND OREILLE COUNTIES AWAKES AFTER BEING DRUGGED, EAR TAGGED AND WEIGHED IN LATE MAY 2012. (WDFW)

“The duration of this phase is largely dependent on the behavior of the wolves,” the Aug. 3 update states.

It began July 31.

The agency says there have been no new depredations since July 22, but if another occurs, it may go back in and take out more wolves.

WDFW continues to keep details from northern Stevens County quiet, saying only that it killed the two wolves between July 20, when the operation was announced, and July 30.

Under its lethal removal protocols, incremental removals can be authorized after three confirmed depredations (or two confirmed and a probable) in a rolling 30-day period or four confirmed across a year.

WDFW says that all three producers whose calves have been gnawed on continue to try and keep their stock and wolves from tangling, including the use of range riders, taking dead, sick or injured animals away from the main herd, using fladry or strobe lights and checking on their cattle.

Apparently things have also been quiet with the Sherman Pack, which is sitting on three depredations since June 12.

State wildlife managers have removed one wolf from the Smackout Pack to head off a series of depredations in Northeast Washington.

They say that the lethal removal operation, which began a week ago, will continue for another week, and be followed by an evaluation period.

The goal is to take out one or two members of the calf-killing pack to change its behavior.

A SMACKOUT PASS WOLF CAUGHT ON A TRAIL CAM AT NIGHT. WDFW)

The news came out late this afternoon in a brief update to the public.

Details on the wolf, how it was taken out and other operational details are not being shared at the moment to try and keep the situation as calm as possible for state staffers, producers and others working it.

Full details will be available in a final report, says WDFW wolf manager Donny Martorello.

The Smackouts have been involved in five confirmed depredations since late September 2016, including two in the past month.

As a result of the depredation investigated July 18, the fourth in less than a year, incremental removals were authorized.

One Smackout wolf was also shot in late June by a ranch hand after it was caught attacking cattle in northern Stevens County.

The pack has been the subject of intense efforts to keep the peace between it and grazing cattle.

The depredations have mostly occurred on Colville National Forest lands, with the latest, investigated on July 22nd, happening in a private fenced 40-acre pasture.

Washington wolf managers are reporting a new pair of depredations by packs already in trouble for recent attacks on cattle.

They say that the Shermans of Ferry County injured a calf not far from a pair of previously confirmed depredations on BLM land. The calf was so torn up it had to be put down, WDFW reports.

WDFW’S 2016 YEAR-END WOLF MAP SHOWS THE ROUGH BOUNDARIES OF THE STATE’S 20 KNOWN PACKS, INCLUDING TWO NEW ONES CONFIRMED LAST YEAR, SHERMAN AND TOUCHET, ON EITHER SIDE OF EASTERN WASHINGTON’S FEDERALLY DELISTED ZONE. (WDFW)

GPS data and tracks at the scene put at least two members of the pack at the attack.

WDFW reports the producer has been using five agency-contracted range riders since early May, and has also increased human presence on the grazing area.

The other two attacks were investigated July 12 and June 12.

One more depredation before mid-August could put the Sherman Pack in jeopardy under WDFW’s new protocols that allow for lethal removal to begin if three attacks (three confirmed or two confirmed and a probable) occur in a rolling 30-day period.

Four confirmed attacks across a year also qualify, and that’s the case in Stevens County already with the Smackout Pack

The agency says it was responsible for killing a calf in a private, fenced 40-acre pasture near the producer’s home last week.

WDFW investigated July 22 and said that GPS data from two collars puts the wolves at the scene at the time of the attack.

It’s the fifth by the Smackouts since last September, and on July 20, WDFW announced it would begin incremental lethal removals to stop the attacks. An update on that operation is expected later this week.

WDFW Director Jim Unsworth has authorized the removal of wolves from the Smackout Pack of Northeast Washington following an attack on a calf in recent days.

They’re set to begin this week; there is no specific number of wolves that will be killed, but protocols say one or two initially, followed by a review of actions, with the goal to stop the pack from harming more cattle.

The latest calf was the fourth confirmed or probable depredation by the east-central Stevens County pack on calves in the past 10 months.

While most of those occurred last September, in June an employee of a ranch also legally killed a pack member after spotting it and another wolf attacking cattle.

A WDFW MAP SHOWS THE LOCATION OF THE SMACKOUT PACK NORTHWEST OF SPOKANE IN NORTHEAST WASHINGTON. (WDFW)

“The incident was investigated by WDFW Enforcement and was found to be consistent with state regulations,” a statement from the agency reads.

Under state law, you can kill a single gray wolf if you are witnessing one or more attacking your domestic animals in the federally delisted eastern third of Washington. This particular wolf was a female that had been radio collared in 2015, according to WDFW.

It’s the first time the caught-in-the-act provision has been used by livestock operators in Washington.

As for the latest depredation, the calf was found injured on Forest Service ground on Tuesday.

Bite marks and collar location data show that the Smackout wolves have been near the cattle herd “on a frequent basis.”

The attack occurred in a fenced area, and according to WDFW several deterrence measures have been taken.

Per WDFW:

“The livestock producer that sustained the July 18, 2017 confirmed wolf depredation is currently using: several range riders (one range rider is primary, but others fill in on an as needed basis), has maintained sanitation by removing or securing livestock carcasses, actively hazed wolves with a firearm and pyrotechnics, kept cattle in a fenced pasture within the allotment due to wolf activity, spotlighting nightly, wolf GPS collar data in the area to monitor activity near cattle, used fladry when needed, a RAG box when needed, and several other deterrents in the past. The range rider started patrolling the area prior to the June 1 turnout in 2017, and communicates frequently with the producer and the local Wildlife Conflict Specialist. Information on denning and wolf activity was also shared with the producer, which the producer has avoided those high use wolf areas. Another producer that was involved in one of the three 2016 depredations within the Smackout territory have been using WDFW contracted range riders, sanitation, and removal of injured cattle from the range.”

Conservation Northwest, which has long been involved in helping ranchers in this part of Washington’s wolf country, as well as elsewhere, issued a statement saying it hoped any removals plus the caught-in-the-act take last month would end the attacks on livestock and end the need to kill more wolves.

The organization also said it was “deeply saddened by the loss of these wolves, and for the strife this incident has caused ranchers operating in this area.”

Last year’s depredations occurred in late September and included a confirmed kill of a calf, a probable kill of a calf and a confirmed injury of a calf.

One other calf has been killed by wolves and two injured stretching back to 2015 in the general area.

“The purpose of this action is to change the pack’s behavior, while also meeting the state’s wolf-conservation goals,” the agency’s wolf manager, Donny Martorello, said in a press release this morning. “That means incrementally removing wolves and assessing the results before taking any further action.”

The pack is believed to have numbered eight coming out of 2016, with an unknown number of pups on the ground this year.

“The lethal removal of wolves is not expected to harm the wolf population’s ability to reach recovery objectives statewide or within individual wolf recovery regions,” a WDFW statement reads.

This means that for a second summer in a row, agency marksmen will be targeting wolves as Washington’s population continues to grow at about a 30-percent-a-year clip. Last year it was the Profanity Peaks, while previous removals occurred in 2014 (Huckleberry) and 2012 (Wedge).